We contemplated moving away from the Westside. Downtown was looking trendy and fun. We even found a super cool loft with exposed brick and huge windows. We almost pulled the trigger but decided maybe we weren’t downtown people. Eh, back to the drawing board for a couple months. Then, THEN! I found a glorious Craig’s List posting describing our unicorn of an apartment. Matt and I sped over there and were sold in about 2 seconds. We move in this weekend. This has given us approximately 10 days to pack all of our stuff and get ready for the movers to arrive on Sunday.

Things are slow going. I am the person who wants to clear the clutter, trash any un-used items and start off with a lighter amount of stuff in our new place. Matt, well, he does not. He LOVES to get all nostalgic packing the boxes. It doesn’t matter if we’re packing mementos from our wedding or last year’s tax return. Every item needs to be carefully reflected upon and then saved. Lord almighty, he’s a saver. We’ve come up with a basic solution. I’m packing the boxes and hoping he doesn’t miss anything I toss/donate/sell on Craig’s List.

So, we will be back to share photos of the new place (our camera cord is currently packed up) and give you the run down on how hiring movers (fancy!) for the first time went down. In the meantime, tell me your packing mantra: toss it or save it?

psst: Ridiculous/awesome unicorn picture found here. All other fuzzy pictures courtesy of my awesome cell phone camera.

Here are some pictures of the big move in day. We have to give a shoutout to Ben, Matt’s cousin. He was a lifesaver! He helped Matt move in all of the furniture and heavy stuff. He even worked injured (a 35 pound dumbbell fell on his toe and he sliced open his hand.). I think we would still be unpacking the truck if it was just us two. And for some reason, he keeps wanting to hang out with us. We were both sure as soon as the Penske was unloaded and there was ice on his toe he would head for the hills and we would never see him again!

This is a triumphant picture for me. Our bed is put together (by me!). This means, no more hotel beds or sleeping on the floor. Hurrah!

Our office/spare room. It still looks like this right now.

Our living room area. This has taken me all we to sort and put boxes in the right rooms. We can finally sit on the couches and watch TV though.

Another shot of the living room. How do you like all of those fruit boxes? I stalked Craig’s List to find moving boxes and this is what I came up with. They worked like a dream (and were free!).

Our dining area. This has been cleared out and we’re just waiting on the perfect thrifty dining table to show up.

Kitchen. I didn’t realize how much glassware we had until I spent 2 hours cleaning it and trying to make it fit into one cabinet (newsflash-that didn’t work). I’ve packed some of it up and will be showing you our creative ways of storing it soon,

This is how all of our closets look right now. They’re holding all of our decor/wall hangings until I can figure out what to do with them.

So, that’s where we’re at right now! Miraculously, we only lost the Orchid (it didn’t make it through the New Mexico snow storm) and a glass I dropped once we got here. Even the TV made it!

I’m hoping to have a better looking place by the end of this week to show you.

Any tips on unpacking? Do you unpack everything at once and then sort it out or just go box by box? Do tell.

PS-Don’t forget to sign up for our giveaway here.

Saturday morning we hit the road semi-early with Colorado Springs set in our sights. We were feeling pretty good. The Penske truck cruised at 70 and the dogs were doing just fine in their kennels.

Our first stop for gas was right outside of Lincoln, Nebraska. This my friends, is where the shit hit the fan.

Matt was pumping the Diesel and I had to rearrange the kennels. I took Lulu out of hers and put her on the bench seat while I tried to fit it back under the seat. Well, she decided to make a break for it and JUMP OUT OF THE PENSKE TRUCK. I turn around and our 4 pound puppy is lying on the cement just squealing like she broke her legs (which is totally legit since it’s like a 6 foot fall). I was hysterical (and I am grossly understating my emotional state). She went into some crazy trance where her pupils were dilated and she was all tense. I was 95 percent certain she was a goner. I wrapped her in Matt’s jacket and hoped for the best. If there was a vet anywhere in the vicinity we would have been there but Western Nebraska was pretty vacant.

I held her for about the next 3 hours and she started to perk back up and she had recovered by lunch time. I still had some serious guilt. I may have promised her a double cheeseburger if she could just make it through. She road shotgun with me the rest of the day since I felt so horrible.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful (thankfully!). We made pretty good time but were kind of surprised that there is still snow on the ground here! We’re staying at La Quinta-a great pet friendly hotel for all you travelers with furry friends! We found them via bringfido.com.

Here are some shots of today’s scenery….

Of course-the video we promised (we’ll try to be more entertaining today!)

We’re selling both of our cars before we leave so that means, 2 dogs, 1 Penske Truck and us for 3 days on the road. This could get ugly people.

We’re definitely plotting our overnight stops to accommodate our tail wagging friends. We’re stopping in:

Omaha, NE (thanks Kurt and Marisa!)

Denver, CO

Salinas, UT

and then home sweet home to Santa Monica.

Since we’ll be stuck enjoying each other’s company for 3 days straight we thought it would be fun to include some side trips. We’re definitely stopping at the J & L Cafe in Colorado per Alexson’s suggestion.

So you know what this means- we want to hear from you! My Google Analytics tells me we have plenty-o readers West of the Missouri River and we need your help. I’m not a great traveler (I always died of cholera or trying to float the river in the Oregon Trail game) so we need some assistance from you seasoned I-80 travelers. Do you know where to stop for breakfast, what hotels are the most pet friendly, and what rest stops to avoid?

Heck, maybe you want to caravan with us-we don’t mind! We just want to have a great trip and hope you can help! So here’s to the Ahrens Adventure 2010. Saddle up pals! It’s going to be a crazy ride!

Perfect examples of opportunities to make a shirt:

• Say what? You’re going to state in football? Let’s get shirts made for the playoffs!
• Someone’s 21st birthday? This calls for an extra sassy number.
• A bar crawl? Oh the bar crawls. I have an embarrassing number of these.
• Your brother’s leaving for Iraq. Well, obviously this calls for a shirt.

Heck, we even made up t-shirts for the Reba concert and boy, we’re they FANCY!

Anyway, we’ve decided that our move to California is well within the t-shirt making criteria. We’ve decided to go with a concert t-shirt theme. All of the stops we’ll make along the route will be on the back. Pretty clever, eh? Oh, our tour’s name? Don’t Stop Believing. It’s Matt’s theme song and we thought that Journey would be a good way to represent our trip. We’re using the website Customized Girl.

Check out our design here.

Tell us, have you made any awesome t-shirts? What was your favorite design? Do you have ideas for a different moving shirt? I was lobbying for a UPS themed one.

There are definitely mixed emotions seeing that sign in the front yard. Ranging from-man I hope this sells in 2 days to aww, we’re never going to have another patio party.

Of course we’ll continue to blog on Our Poverty with a View. Although, now its going to be a whole new kind of poverty (have you seen rent prices in California?!) and definitely a different view (hello ocean!).

I hope you’ll keep up with us on this new adventure!